After his attention-grabbing performance as a vicious counterfeiter in "To Live and Die in L.A." (1985), actor Willem Dafoe soared to stardom and earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor in the Academy Award-winning "Platoon" (1986). Prior to that performance, Dafoe used his menacing features and languid delivery to create an air of intensity for a succession of roles as toughs and villains, including in "The Loveless" (1981) and "Roadhouse 66" (1984). Following his breakthrough, however, the actor delivered a string of compelling performances, and even courted controversy as Jesus in "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988). Throughout his entire career, Dafoe moved easily between showy character turns like a hard-drinking paraplegic in "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) and leading roles like T.S. Eliot in "Tom & Viv" (1994). Occasionally, he turned on the camp to play over-the-top villains in "Speed 2: Cruise Control" (1997) and the "Spider-Man" series. But he also turned in high-caliber performances, as he did playing German actor Max Schreck in "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000), which showcased the wealth of talent he had displayed throughout his varied career.
...

After his attention-grabbing performance as a vicious counterfeiter in "To Live and Die in L.A." (1985), actor Willem Dafoe soared to stardom and earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor in the Academy Award-winning "Platoon" (1986). Prior to that performance, Dafoe used his menacing features and languid delivery to create an air of intensity for a succession of roles as toughs and villains, including in "The Loveless" (1981) and "Roadhouse 66" (1984). Following his breakthrough, however, the actor delivered a string of compelling performances, and even courted controversy as Jesus in "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988). Throughout his entire career, Dafoe moved easily between showy character turns like a hard-drinking paraplegic in "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989) and leading roles like T.S. Eliot in "Tom & Viv" (1994). Occasionally, he turned on the camp to play over-the-top villains in "Speed 2: Cruise Control" (1997) and the "Spider-Man" series. But he also turned in high-caliber performances, as he did playing German actor Max Schreck in "Shadow of the Vampire" (2000), which showcased the wealth of talent he had displayed throughout his varied career.

Appeared in "Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait," a documentary about the New York artist

VIEW ALL MILESTONES

Education

Appleton East High School:
Appleton , Wisconsin -

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee:
Milwaukee , Wisconsin -

Notes

"Shadow of the Vampire" screenwriter Steven Katz wrote the role of Max Schreck expressly for Willem Dafoe. As he explained in the press notes for the film, "He just had this quality, a mixture of the incredibly frightening and threatening with an erotic charge too that I thought was perfect for the part."

"Weirdness is not my game. I'm just a square boy from Wisconsin."---Willem Dafoe

On creating the character of Max Schreck for "Shadow of the Vampire", Dafoe was quoted in the press notes as saying; "The most important research tool was the footage. The only thing I could find out about Max was that a biographer of Murnau said he was 'an actor of no distinction.' But the script was very strong, and we had the actual "Nosferatu" film as a kind of touchstone and base. So much had to wait until I got into the prosthetic make-up. I didn't just have extreme make-up, but also a costume that was restricting. The shoes made me walk a particular way. The padding in the clothes also made me walk a particular way. It was great because it's a huge mask which frees you up so much."

"I kind of bristle when people admire my work downtown and then wink at me and say, 'Hey, you got a good gig in that movie, run with it baby, make some bucks.' The truth is... it's all the same. The functions and the demands are different, but on some level, it's all performing... I refuse to say that 'Clear and Present Danger' is any less artful than 'Last Temptation'... I only do work that for some reason I'm excited or curious about. I've been around long enough that I don't do anything for the money, or for the nice trailer, or for the perk of being in a big movie. ... Everything has its price... I don't get paid $7 million for the movies I do, and when I'm top banana, they're not big studio movies... I see Harrison [Ford], and it might sound suspicious, but I wouldn't want to be him. He can't do things that I can do. I can switch hit, I can go and make a small movie, I can make a big movie. I've got some flexibility."---Dafoe quoted to Newsday August 9, 1994.

"I don't work with so many people who impress me with the way they live their life and do their work, and he [Dafoe] does. He seems to me to be very easy going. He's rather well balanced."---John Malkovich on Willem Dafoe to Biography July 2002.

"There's a little bit of 'What have I done?' in the sense that I've never made movies that kids could see. I'm starting to anticipate the day that I'm in the grocery store and a little kid says, 'Mommy! The Green Goblin!' Nothing like that has ever happened to me."---Dafoe to Prevue Magazine 2002.

"Let's face it. When [casting] agents are looking for a guy-next-door type they don't think of me unless the character lives next door to a mausoleum."---Dafoe to Calgary SunMay 1, 2002.

"What keeps you alive as an actor is your ability to apply yourself to something that you're curious about, and to fall in love with it. I don't think of acting as an interpretive art. I think it's an invitation to become something."---Dafoe to Venice, December 2004/January 2005.